Getting National Currencies to the Blockchain, Hurdles and Trends

Coinify Co-Founder and CEO Mark Højgaard outlines why and how national currencies are destined for blockchain, albeit with numerous regulatory hurdles to surmount in the process. The financial industry, he argues, has not benefited from market disruption through innovation and computer power as we have seen with other industries. Several forces are at play, however, that are pushing for progress, including, financial sector regulatory reform, increasing consumer comfort with fintech options, and blockchain-based currency experimentation by countries from China to Senegal to Russia. Digital currencies are attractive to some countries because they can help to fight corruption, enable remittances, and cut down on expensive cross-border transaction fees. Read More >>

BLOCK INTEL’S TAKE: Opportunities abound, but do not overestimate the public’s willingness to embrace digital payments. The tech community trusts in blockchain and fintech solutions because they understand it, have the basic technical ability to assess the relative security of solutions, and are wont to seize on the latest tool promoting efficiency and touting innovation. How do we reconcile this with disappointing Apple Pay results, as outlined in an April WSJ piece? (In contrast, Apple Pay says they saw a 450 percent increase in transaction volume.) People “get” Apple, the company, and its products. Apple enjoys more trust from their consumer base than most other brands—if they cannot get consumers to adopt their mobile payment system because of a lack of trust and understanding, how are we going to explain blockchain-based currencies to the masses and get them onboard? Doable, but we’re not quite there.